Words Like Redemption
by deer hunter
Summary: Six years after the 3rd Impact the Evangelion pilots and former NERV staff find themselves reunited after the Japanese government is put on trial for its actions
1. Fallout

I do not own Evangelion. All characters and related materials are the property of Gainax.

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"Do you really think that matters anymore?"

"It worked in the past. Look, it was just a suggestion."

"We can't get ourselves out of this one I'm afraid. The U.N. knows we had knowledge of SELEE and Ikari's plans. It no longer matters whether the impact was successful or not. As long as they have proof of our involvement…our ship is effectively sunk gentlemen. The contents of those plans fall under the category of global mass terrorism."

"So were stuck. What happens next?"

"A political firestorm. The decentralization of NERV. Probably a military court marshal for the top brass at the JSSDF. At best the entire government will undergo a thorough investigation, likely leading to more charges and then removal from office."

Hitoru sighed.

"They'll need witnesses."

"That's correct."

"Any chance of those involved staying loyal to the Japanese government?"

"Not likely. No one from the former NERV facilities has much love for us anymore. Especially after the incident with the JSSDF."

"What about elimination?"

"That won't help us out very much I'm afraid. The only one still in Japan is Ikari."

"Where is he?"

"He's a Junior at Tokyo-3 U."

"Out of any of the pilots, he knew the most…"

"Don't you think that boy has suffered enough?"

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"Is he going to be there?"

"I don't know. I'm not even sure if he's still alive. We haven't spoken since I was fourteen."

Asuka Langley Soryu rolled over in her bed facing out toward the window and the lake that sat beyond it. The moon reflected itself in the water, casting light onto the rest of the forest. She could feel his eyes staring at her back.

"I wish you wouldn't go. I…" Aiden's voiced trailed off and Asuka thought she could hear a faint inflection of tears in his throat as he did so. The second child sighed and wrapped herself tighter in her comforters.

"I don't have a choice. If I don't go they're just going to come and force me."

"We could leave. We could run away."

"Don't be stupid."

Silence.

Maybe that was too harsh, Asuka thought to herself. But sometimes that was what it took to get through to him. Run away? What an idiot.

"I'm sorry, Asuka. But who knows how long it will take for all of this to conclude itself. It could be years."

With some air of finality Aiden lay back down on his pillow and tried his best to think of something, anything that would allow him to keep her close. He turned his head to the right and found himself again staring at the back of her head.

"You're not coming back, are you?"

Asuka said nothing.

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"So I suppose I don't really have much of a choice do I."

"No sir, you don't."

Toji Suzahara chuckled for a moment before he decided to speak again.

"What happens if I decide I don't really wanna go all that much? I'm at least twice your size…I could probably snap your neck if I wanted to," Toji said with a smile as he looked at the tiny build of the blonde woman next to him, her CIA badge glinting in the sunlight. The woman smiled back at him.

"Well that's why I carry a big gun."

Toji laughed again.

"I figured this was gonna happen eventually. Kinda makes me mad that I'm gonna have to get pulled back into it though, its not like I really had anything to do with what happened. Hell I wasn't even in Tokyo-3 when everything went down."

The woman shook her head.

"I'm sorry to hear that but the investigation calls for full disclosure."

"Well can't I just write a statement or something?"

"No. You're a witness. The U.N. wants you on the stand. Plus you're getting a full psychiatric evaluation."

" 'The hell? What for? They think I'm gonna flip out and kill someone?"

"No. But you were a minor at the time. The actions of the Japanese government are being seriously questioned. There's a fairly substantial child abuse charge in the suit. It could mean a lot of money for you and the other children involved."

"I don't want the money. I want to stay here. Finish my damn education. Don't I have to bring charges for them to get tried for this stuff?"

"Well you would need to do that for a civil suit, but these are criminal charges being brought forth by the U.N. itself."

"Then why would they care about how me and the other pilots were treated? It doesn't have anything to do with the third impact."

"I won't lie to you Mr. Suzahara. The Japanese government will not survive this investigation. This is basically the equivalent of a war, even if it is fought entirely on paper. The U.N. wants the complete dismantlement of the Japanese governmental state as we know it. Therefore the more charges that can be brought, the more people can be removed, the more people the U.N. can replace. We want to be absolutely sure that when this is over what happened six years ago won't happen again."

"So you're worried that someone might try and end the world again, eh? And here I was thinking you were worried about lil' old me."

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A red light. A red light was definitely not good. Shinji Ikari had seen enough action films to know what that meant. His retina's followed the milk carton as it dropped from his hands and hit the floor. He was terrified, but knew it would all be over in less than a second. Decision time. Shinji let his body fall limp as a hole an inch thick was opened in his refrigerator by the force of a sniper bullet. The third child felt his head slam against the tile of his apartment floor and tasted the warm sensation of blood trickle from his tongue where he had bit it in the fall.

Shinji scrambled to push himself up to his hands and knees as his roommate woke with a scream.

"What the hell was that noise?"

Shinji watched as his roommate stood up from his bed and ran to where Shinji lay behind the kitchen counter.

"Shinji are you alright?"

"Takeshi get down!"

"What?"

The left side of his head exploded as the bullet exited through his skull, staining the white wall behind him with a circular are of reddish fluid.

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"Come on. Stand up you son of a bitch."

Ryushi Ito pulled his left eye away from his scope and blinked twice before again focusing on the fifth level dorm floor.

"Damn."

Ryushi slowly twisted the zoom on the rifle, and then the focus in turn. He had his sight dead on the corner of the small counter overhang in case his target decided to make a run for it. But why would he? He wouldn't. Not unless he was either terrified out of his wits or completely and utterly stupid. Ryushi knew he had failed his mission, and now it was only a matter of time until…

"Don't move."

The sniper felt the muzzle of a gun get pressed up against his skull, just above the right ear.

"Let go of the rifle."

Ito slowly let go of his gun, his hope, and what most assuredly would end up being his life.

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Rei Ayanami slowly stepped off of the fold out stair case of the plane and onto the asphalt runway. The heat hit her like a punch to the gut. It was staggering and immediate. The first child had never been anyplace as hot as this before.

"Excuse me, but, where are we?" she questioned the black suited man who had accompanied her on the flight. Rei couldn't believe his choice of attire for the weather.

"I'm afraid you're not allowed to know that ma'am. It's for your own safety."

"I see."

"Please," he motioned off toward the palm trees that seemed to be stretching into the horizon around her, the heat making the air around them hazy.

Rei followed the man northward from where they had landed, another man carrying her luggage and trailing more than a few steps behind them. After about half of a minute a motorized luggage cart of some kind could be seen emerging from the trees and making its way toward them.

"Finally," her guide said, now showing the signs of the temperature as he loosened his tie while sweat dripped down his dark face.

The cart slowed to pick them up and then drove lazily back to the man who was trying his best to carry Rei's luggage. Once everyone was on board and accounted for, the driver quickly headed back towards the ever growing tree line. Rei watched the face of her guide until he noticed and began to speak.

"The hotel is only about 10 minutes from here. Were gonna be there in no time so just sit tight."

Rei nodded in acknowledgment.

"You'll love it," he continued, "It has air conditioning."

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"It's alright kid! Stand up. It's over."

"Get the hell away from me!"

"Drop the knife."

"You shot him! Christ…You blew his brains out!"

"No. That wasn't me. But we got him. He's finished. Look," the man let his MP-5 fall from his hands, dangling from the strap over his shoulder.

Shinji studied the figure before him. He was dressed entirely in black, his chest covered in Kevlar (and probably the rest of him too), a black mask over his face, eyes obscured by some sort of electronic equipment over his goggles.

"Alright," the third child said, his voice trembling in his throat.

Shinji stood and walked over to the man, carefully stepping around what was left of his room mate.

"Why'd they do it?"

"Do what?"

"Shoot him for God's sake!"

The man glanced down at the body on the floor before answering.

"So there wouldn't be any witnesses."

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Asuka Langley Soryu slowly lifted her clothes out of the grey suitcase that had carried them and onto the hotel bed. Once, everything had been removed she began to open the drawers in the dresser next to the television set and to slowly put everything away. Socks and underwear up top, then skirts and shorts, then pants, then sweatshirts and jackets. When she had concluded Asuka found the small black bag in which she carried her tooth brush and other toiletries and took them into the bathroom. When she could no longer think of any work that needed doing she sat on the bed and let the boredom sink into her. She stared absentmindedly at the unfamiliar ceiling above her and let her eyes blur. She awoke several hours later to the sound of a vehicle coming up the road.

Asuka stood, yawning and stretching as she rolled off of the mattress and up to her feet. She slowly slid back the sliding glass door that kept the balcony separate from the rest of the room and stepped out into the warm night. After a few moments she managed to spot the luggage car that had carried her to the hotel making another trip up the road. As it turned in a wide arc to the left on the road below Asuka spied unmistakably the white shirt with the dark jeans. It was him.


	2. Reunion

I do not own Evangelion. All characters and other affiliated materials are the property of Gainax

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As the luggage car slowly pulled out of her line of sight Asuka found herself suddenly and irreparably torn. At once she felt the urge to put on the most risqué articles of clothing that she owned and walk right through the lobby and jump into the swimming pool, and at the same time felt like locking her hotel room door, turning off all of the lights, and wrapping herself so completely in the coverings of her bed that no one would ever be able to find her again.

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"You're a late un, mon."

It struck Shinji Ikari that he believed himself to have a rather firm grasp of the English language, and that the man behind the desk before him was clearly using words that he had never in fact heard before.

"Excuse me?"

The man laughed, his dark dread locks swinging in a brief backward motion at the movements of his neck.

"You're roomeh iz threeohseven on da terd floor."

Shinji realized he must have been staring because the man was giving him a strange look.

"Ello? You home mon?"

The man in black behind him grunted and Shinji grabbed the room key from the outstretched hand before him.

"Right. Thankyou."

"Shure. Someunil be down in a moment for ya bags."

The man in the suit, who also had a gun (Shinji had begun to notice this more and more), steered Shinji by his shoulders to the right.

"Elevator."

Shinji pressed the white button with the black arrow on his left to signal to the contraption that he wanted to go upwards. A few seconds later there was a "ding" noise to signify its successful arrival and Shinji and his apparent bodyguard stepped into the open compartment. Shinji began to reach out his hand to hold the door as another group of people sauntered toward the elevator but the man in the suit shoved Shinji's hand down lightly and pressed the "door close" button. An awkward silence fell on the stationary car. In fact, now that he thought about it, his entire trip from Japan had been one gigantic awkward silence. The third child estimated that he had been on various planes for at least a good 18 hours not counting downtime. And whenever there was downtime they always landed in a private terminal with no one but more men in suits. Speaking of men in suits, he guessed that the man standing behind him was the third bodyguard he had had so far. It was difficult to guess with any degree of accuracy however because they all had looked so similar. The only thing Shinji really knew was that he was probably somewhere in the Caribbean from the accent of the man behind the check in desk and the blazing tropical heat that hung damply all around him, even at 1 AM. The man in the suit grunted again.

"Um, what floor was it?" Shinji asked, realizing that he had been staring at the door controls for more time than what was probably considered normal.

"The third floor sir."

"Thankyou."

"You don't have to thank me."

"Okay."

"Push the button sir."

"Oh right. Sorry"

Shinji pushed the button and felt gravities elevated tug as they started to move upward.

"Your apologies are unnecessary."

Shinji shrugged and stared at the steel door in front of him, wishing the slit would hurry up and open so he could get away from the soulless man behind him and finally get some sleep. When the door opened they stepped out and proceeded down the hallway 30 feet and to the left. Room 307.

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Rei slowly unscrewed the lids to the various amber bottles on the top of her dresser. It wasn't so hard to remember anymore, now it was like a routine. It was like she had always been doing it. Two pink's, a blue and a half, and one white pill with a green stripe. She filled up a glass of water from the bathroom sink and began to down her pills in the order that she had laid them out. When she had finished with the green striped one she had begun to feel a little nauseous from the glass of water in her empty stomach. She tried her best to ignore the queasiness and began removing her clothes as she moved her way to the bed. She neatly folded back the comforter and sheets and slid between the covers, resting her head sideways on the pillow. She could feel the water sloshing around inside of her as the pills began to absorb in her system. She closed her eyes knowing that everything would be much better in the morning.

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Toji motioned for the bellhop to return to his station as he hefted his two suitcases up onto his shoulders, his mind amplifying the tiny "whirs" and "clicks" emanating from his left arm and leg. Most girls, most people, told him that you could barely even hear them, and even then wouldn't know if you weren't trying to hear them in the first place. Toji never quite believed them, and no matter what they said he could always hear the minutiae of their workings.

Toji pressed the button for the elevator as his eyes slowly slid leftward to follow the figure of a woman who had passed him on her way to the front desk. He whistled slightly as the doors opened and he stepped inside.

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"Excuse me but is there a room here registered to Shinji Ikari?" Asuka asked.

The man had a pained expression on his face.

"I'm so sorry but I'm really not allowed to say."

"Oh. That's alright then."

Asuka turned around and headed back towards the elevator.

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"All of that and you can't even fall asleep. I must be crazy."

Shinji rolled over onto his side and turned on the bedside lamp.

"And now you're even talking to yourself."

Shinji glanced at the phone on the table beside the lamp and then noticed a laminated card with the different levels of the hotel printed on it.

"Pool on the top floor?"

Shinji debated with himself for a few moments.

"Why not? Might as well check it out."

Shinji grabbed his bathing suit and then a towel out of the bathroom and searched briefly for his roomkey before he found it on top of the television. He spun around and quickly walked the steps to his door and then opened it and entered the hallway. The elevator was about 4 rooms down from his and he continued his stride until he reached it, pressing the red up button firmly. He heard the ding noise, watched the doors open, and stepped inside of the car.

"Well aren't you going to say something?" Asuka asked.

"What floor?"

"What?" She said, her features scrunching up in disbelief.

"What floor do you want to go to?" Shinji clarified.

"Oh, um…" Asuka trailed off, obviously flustered, "Six. But I…it should go there automatically. I mean, I already pushed it once."

Shinji pressed the button for the sixth floor for good measure and then the button for the top floor. He took a step backward and stood shoulder to shoulder with the second child, their faces staring forward at the elevator door. To Asuka, the silence felt like hours upon hours falling away to nowhere.

"Trying not to stare Ikari?" the sexy, alluring tone of the temptress in her voice.

Shinji scoffed.

"I'm sorry Asuka, were you putting on a show?" he retorted.

"So I see you still like to apologize."

"And I see you still like to play games."

"With you? Hardly."

"Then why are you wearing that ridiculous outfit?"

Shinji eyed her choice of attire. It was hard enough to miss Asuka as it was. Her figure was still curvier than any he had seen in his life, her hair a deep auburn fire, legs long and flawless, and her breasts…there was no reason for her to be wearing the outfit she had chosen, it was easy enough to notice her chest all on its own.

"So I guess you noticed after all," Asuka said, "That's just like you Shinji. Always looking at what's on display but never going inside the store."

Shinji coughed loudly as the elevator hit the sixth floor.

"Here's your stop."

"Changed my mind. I've Decided I want to go for a swim."

Shinji shrugged and was about to say "but you don't have a bathing suit" before he stopped himself. He pressed the door close button and let himself lean against the back of the elevator car. Shiny realized he had been holding his breath and decided to let it out.

"Nervous?" Asuka asked.

"About the trial? A little bit. I've tried to put the past behind me, you know? I don't really want to bring it all up again."

"That's not what I meant."

"Huh?"

Asuka smirked.

"You just let out a deep breath that's all. It made it seem like you were nervous."

"Oh," Shinji realized what she had meant, "No I'm not nervous. Why would I be?"

Asuka shrugged, the smirk growing larger.

"Well it's just that a lot of guys are intimidated by attractive women."

The ding finally sounded as the elevator car hit the top floor. The two former pilots stepped out into the warm night.

Shinji chuckled slightly, but felt unsure of himself in the process, which only made the laughter sound like nervous laughter in the end. This made Asuka laugh too.

"We sound like fourteen year olds again, Shinji. Still pretending like were all grown up."

Shinji walked over to the edge of the building to gaze down at the grounds below.

"I don't really remember us ever laughing together Asuka."

"Hmm. Well maybe you're right. Its funny how things kind of fade away isn't it? So much happened…sometimes it's tough for me to remember if there were any good times at all."

Shinji walked back to wear Asuka sat by the pool.

"Good times? I'm sure there were a few," he ventured, "but I don't think we ever really got along if that's what you meant."

"Yah, I don't think we ever really got along either. But to be fair you were more introverted than anyone I had ever met. You really never talked unless I forced you too."

"I do seem to recall some forcing. I don't think I liked that very much, at all actually."

"Of course you didn't. That was the point. If you had enjoyed it you never would have said anything."

Shinji felt his lips curl into a slight smile but looked downward into the water to keep Asuka from seeing. It felt good to be talking about the past, even though what they were speaking about so lightly were some of the most painful moments in his life.

"You were a real bitch Asuka."

"Well jesus Shinji, why don't you tell me how you really feel."

Asuka shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I felt like I've needed to say that for about six years now."

"Well I probably deserved it. But I only acted like a bitch because you were always such a little perv."

"Oh, right," Shinji said, a smile of disbelief in his tone.

Asuka laughed.

"Well it's true. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to live with a boy your own age at fourteen? Not to mention how pretty I was, am. I always felt like you were staring."

Asuka yawned, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back, her breasts thrust out and emphasized by the curve in her spine.

"Well sometimes it's just nice to get certain things off your chest," She said.

At the word "chest" Shinji realized what was going on and quickly pulled his eyes away from the second child's slightly visible nipples.

"Well maybe I wasn't staring," Shinji said, doing his best to continue the string of conversation that Asuka had tried to end with her yawn maneuver, "Did you ever stop to consider that?"

Asuka laughed as she finished her exaggerated yawn.

"I don't think I really wanted to give you a chance at the time. I considered myself pretty far out of your league."

"League? League has nothing to do with it. I just wanted you to be nicer," Shinji said, his tone somewhat exasperated.

"And I just wanted you to stop being such a little weirdo. And what do you mean league had nothing to do with it? Shinji you wanted to get with me from the moment you saw me."

"I can't believe you just said that."

"What? Shinji it's not like it isn't true or something."

"How would you know if it was or wasn't?"

"Oh c'mon. Look at me for Christ sakes. I don't mean to sound stuck up or anything, but lets be serious here. You'd never met something with so much talent and brains filling out a figure this perfect before," Asuka concluded, motioning downward with her hand from her neckline to her upper thighs.

Shinji stared forward into the light blue depths of the pool. He wanted to say something; to put her in her place for being such a snob. Something inside him told him that he might have too, had what she said not been so extremely close to the truth. So instead Shinji made a semi-disgusted "pff" noise that Asuka interpreted as denial of her speech, but was actually just some of Shinji's frustration with himself boiling over into an audible format. Shinji stood up from the smooth concrete and began to walk towards where he had set down his towel and bathing suit earlier.

"I'm going for a swim."

Shinji picked up his suit and looked around for a changing room briefly before it dawned on him that there wasn't one. Asuka stood from where she had been sitting beside him at the pool and walked around to the opposite side from Shinji.

"There's no changing room," Shinji said aloud.

"Well I won't look if you don't," Asuka said as she began to remove her dress.

"Uh…are you just going to go in with your lingerie on?"

Asuka laughed.

"You sound disappointed."


	3. The Forgiven

I do not own Evangelion. All characters and other affiliated materials are the property of Gainax.

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Shinji wrapped his towel around his waist and quickly shed his clothes in favor of his bathing suit. He could hear Asuka laugh audibly from the pool side where she was sliding off the straps of her shirt.

"Worried I might take a peek?"

Shinji finished tying the strings on his suit and set his towel on one of the hundreds of reclining beach chairs arranged around the pool.

"Trust is something you have to earn," he said in a flat tone. Asuka bobbed her head in silent agreement and slowly slid into the dark water, the small lights near the elevator door showing off her blue under things for a second before she disappeared underneath the glassy expanse.

Shinji walked over to the handrail and followed it down into the pool, the sensation of the cold sending goose bumps washing up his body. He shivered slightly when it hit his spine.

"It's easier if you just go in all at once," Asuka's voice emanating from somewhere farther into the deeps.

"Yah," Shinji murmured in half hearted agreement. It was ridiculously hot for this time of night anyway to not be in the pool, he thought to himself before deciding to take the plunge. The world went dark as the coolness invaded his chest and head and soon all of the noise of the world had disappeared. Shinji kicked his legs lightly under the water until he was away from the stairs and then let out some of the air from his lungs. When his back settled against the concrete of the pool's bottom he stopped and let the silence wash over him entirely. After a few moments his senses noticed ripples of force in the water and Shinji opened his eyes to the image of Asuka floating a few inches above his body, a solemn smile of knowing on her face. And as Shinji stared entranced at the floating image above him, his senses numbed by the shock of the cold and the depths of the quiet echoing nothingness all around him, it occurred to him that it wouldn't be so bad to die.

After a few more moments he watched as Asuka's silhouette began to obscure the darkness as she broke the surface for air. Shinji let the image of her fall away from his thoughts and slowly let his eyes close again until suddenly he felt himself being pulled upwards, his hands held firmly in the grip of his companions. As the former third child broke into the night he took a deep breathe before opening his eyes once more. As the world flowed back into vision he could see that Asuka held a look of deep concern on her once cheery visage.

Shinji looked downwards to avoid her eyes.

"Are you all right?" she asked, her earlier flirty tone now noticeably missing.

"I'm fine."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Excuse me?" Shinji chuckled awkwardly as he pulled his feet from the floor and let himself float freely upon the surface.

"I'm sorry."

"I said It's fine."

"I just thought. I don't know. You were down there for a long time."

"How odd."

"What's odd?"

"You never used to care what happened to me."

"Don't be a jerk Shinji."

"Were you worried I might not come back up?"

"Stop it."

"Were you, Asuka Langley Soryu, frightened for a moment that maybe your tight little outfits and double entendres might not make up for all the pain we've been through, huh?"

Shinji stopped floating and walked back towards were the startled red head stood standing in the pool.

"Get away from me."

Shinji placed his hand on top of her now shivering shoulders.

"Asuka..."

"Don't touch me," she said, arching her shoulders to try and shed his grip, which only caused him to tighten it.

"Asuka..."

He lowered his head to look her in the eyes.

"It's all right. We don't have to run anymore."

She let her eyes fall away from his as she watched him slowly sink downwards, back into the silence from which he had come and from which all things are born. And with those words spoken, the tears finally came, so long hidden from the world. Then, slowly, without regret and without remorse, she let the darkness fill her and let herself fall into the silence of the forgiven.


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